Clegg set to veto NHS reforms

The deputy prime minister said he and his Lib Dem party would vote against Tory plans for health service as they currently stand

Nick Clegg has said current plans for the NHS are unacceptable to the Lib Dems (Lewis Whyld)

Nick Clegg has vowed to vote against the government’s planned NHS reforms
unless they are “significantly” improved.

The deputy prime minister said he would veto the package put forward by health
secretary Andrew Lansley in its current state – which includes handing over
commissioning powers to GPs and extending private provision of NHS services.

The Liberal Democrat leader warned that unless there are "substantial,
significant changes" to the proposals, he will tell Lib Dem MPs and peers to
vote them down.

And he said that he “accepted” that his supporters were “anxious” about the
coalition’s programme of spending cuts – but insisted that efforts to reduce
the deficit must continue.

In what was his strongest public stance against the proposed reforms yet, Mr
Clegg told the BBC’s Andrew Marr Show: "As far as government legislation is
concerned, no bill is better than a bad one, and I want to get this right.